The Inter-Ethnic Folklore: An Appraisal of the Areas of Affinity in the Igbo and Yoruba Customary Lore

Nigeria is a nation comprising different ethnic groups. Each ethnic group is distinct from the other as the people are bounded by a unique belief system. Being bounded by a belief system – tradition and culture, the people live gregariously in a particular place – society. The distinguishing factor of societies is culture. Culture entails the totality of the way of life of a people including the people’s language. As a binding factor of a society, distinguishing each society from the other, it is therefore a popular belief that juxtaposition of two alien cultures heralds conflict. The belief system of any society is understood through parsing of the society’s folklore. Even as culture differs from society to society, the researchers are of the view that certain aspects of folklore of societies overlap. In this paper, therefore, the researchers appraise the customary aspect of folklore with the aim to explore the areas of affinity in the Igbo and Yoruba belief system.